﻿<title>Moving Sideways - the Sculling Draw</title>

<h1>Moving Sideways - the Sculling Draw</h1>

<div id="1">When you want to move alongside a dock or a friend's kayak, one of the best moves to use is the <b>sculling draw</b>.<br /><br />It might be slightly hard to master, but it is the most powerful way to make your kayak move sideways and keeping balance is easy.</div>

<div id="2">Hold your paddle with a normal <b>forward paddling grip</b>. Turn your torso to the side and put the <b>paddle almost vertically</b> into water.<br /><br />Your <b>upper arm</b> should be bent about <b>90 degrees</b> and kept <b>high</b>. Check that the <b>power face</b> of a paddle is facing <b>towards the kayak.</b></div>

<div id="3">Now take a moment to <b>feel how the paddle will behave in the water</b>. You probably notice that the blade almost has its own will: it slices the water easily if you move the paddle parallel to your kayak. But to draw the blade closer to or further away from the kayak takes a lot more work.<br /><br />However, moving the paddle back and forth this way does very little to move the kayak.</div>

<div id="4">The trick is to move the paddle back and forth <b>parallel to the kayak</b> while keeping the <b>power face angled slightly toward the direction of the sweep</b>. Doing so draws the kayak towards the paddle.<br /><br />Keep your <b>upper hand</b> in a fairly <b>fixed</b> position, and start waving the blade in water by <b>moving</b> your <b>lower hand.</b><br /><br />Try to keep the movement <b>continuous;</b> move the paddle so that it forms a narrow <b>figure 8</b> in the surface of water. You will have to <b>resist the blade's tendency</b> to slice the water.</div>

<div id="5">If you want to make the kayak move to the opposite side, keep the blade's <b>back face</b> slightly <b>towards the direction of the sweep</b>. However, it is usually easier to just move the paddle to other side and do the sculling in a normal way.<br /><br /><b>TIP:</b><br />Mastering the sculling can be surprisingly difficult. One thing that can help, is to first experiment water dynamics with your hand instead of a paddle. Do experiments and you will soon be able to move the kayak exactly to the wanted direction.</div>